Running
by Blue Lily96
Summary: Will wakes up Tessa in the midle of the night because Nataniel has shown up on the Institutes doorstep with a message for her. A bit of romantic tension betwee Will and Tesssa. Genres are questionable, I wasn't really sure. Read and Review! :
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, so this is a kind of long one-shot between Tessa, Will, and, briefly, Nathaniel. Hope you enjoy :)_

**Running**

Tessa was woken by a furious banging on her bedroom door. She sat upright in bed, her mind still foggy with sleep.

'Tessa! Wake up!'

The urgent voice behind the door snapped her fully into the waking world. A voice she heard on a daily basis. A voice she had been avoiding at all costs for three weeks.

Will.

'In the name of the Angel, wake up Tessa!' He sounded like he wanted to shout but couldn't. Something was wrong.

Tessa grabbed her dressing gown from where it was draped across her chair and threw the door open. Will, who had been halfway though another round of knocking, froze, his hand raised in the air.

'What is it, Will?' Tessa asked, trying not to get caught by his brilliant blue eyes. Her hair was hanging loose down her shoulders, knotted with sleep, and all she had on was her dressing gown and night clothes. Will, it seemed, had only just got out of bed, wearing loose trousers and his shirtsleeves, revealing a triangular patch of his muscled chest. 'Is it Jem? Is he sick? Is everybody alright?'

Will didn't speak. Instead, he stared at her, blue eyes sweeping over her face, her body, her hair. Tessa pulled her dresing gown tighter around herself, frowing self-consciously. It quickly turned to irritation.

'Oh, for the love of god, Will! What is going on?' Her sharp tone seemed to snap him out of his trance. He looked down at her with mild indifference but she thought for a moment that she saw a look of worry flash momentarily through his blue eyes.

'Your brother,' he said with a sneer, 'Is downstairs.'

_'What_?' Tessa hissed in a most un-lady like fashion. She did not wait for an answer, ducking instead around Will and hurrying towards the elevator. She heard him follow her, felt him slip into the elevator beside her but she could not look at him. Her mind was completely focused on why her brother, her traitor brother, would show up on the Intitute's door-step.

The elevator door clanged open and Tessa ran towards the huge old doors, bare feet slipping on the cold stone floors. Tessa stood silently in front of the closed doors, fear suddenly clawing up her throat. What could her brother want?

She felt Will behind her, felt the heat of his body through the thin material of her night-clothes and she shivered, closed her eyes, and hesitantly opened the door. Sure enough, there stood Nate, his blonde hair falling in his eyes, a horrible sneer twisting his face when he saw her. All half-formed hopes that she had secretly entertained broke and crumbled.

There was no going back for Nate. He was gone from her forever.

'Nate,' she whispered, pain making her heart clench. Will was behind her, his hand gripping the door-frame.

'Theresa,' Nate said, his silky voice lined with malice. 'I have a message for you. From the Magister.'

Tessa could feel the hard band of Will's arm against her shoulder blades, but she did not move forward. She needed someone close to her now, with her brother standing before her, even if it was the boy who had trampled her heart.

'What is it, Nathaniel?' She asked him, her voice coming out cold. He grinned at her, the same grin that he would give her when she was young, a grin of affection, of brotherly love. Only now the grin was twisted and evil, a hideous mockery of what once was.

'We're coming for you, Tessie,' he said, voice low, menacing. 'And once you have given the Magister what he wants, you're going to die.'

Tessa felt her knees go weak as she watched Nate begin to fade into the darkness. Will was vibrating with tension and she knew he was moments away from running after her brother and stabbing him.

But the dizziness that had swept through her was suddenly replaced by a burning fury and before she knew what she was doing, Tessa had run out of the institute, shouting Nate's name furiously. She didn't know what she was going to do to him, just ran in a blind rage to the gates of the Institute, head whipping from side to side, trying to spot her brother's gold head in the dark night.

But he had disappeared.

Tessa opened the gate and turned left, running down the empty street until she felt strong arms catch her around the waist, restraining her. Tessa kicked at the unknown assailant until his voice spoke in her ear.

'Tessa!' Will whispered. 'Tessa, he's gone.'

Tessa felt the anger at her brother drain out of her, replaced by stiff embarrassment to have Will hold her like that.

'Let go of me, William,' she said in a low voice. He did so immediately. She ducked around him and began to walk numbly back to the Intsitute gates. Her feet stung painfully with the cold but she barely noticed it.

The ride back in the elevator was silent. Tessa stared ahead, her mind replaying over and over again the way Nate had grinned at her, the way he had told her that she would die.

Will followed her back to her room, but she ignored him, too caught up in her own thoughts to pay him any attention. It wasn't until they reached her door that she was forced to recognise his presence, mostly because, with the help of shadow-hunter swiftness that never ceased to surprise her, he slipped in-between her and the door, blocking her way.

'Move, Will,' she said, voice dull. He shook his head obstinantly.

'I don't think so.'

Tessa sighed, glaring up at him with her grey eyes. 'If you're trying to make me feel better, Will, please stop. I don't think I would care for _your_ kind of comfort.' Her mind flashed back to the attic, when he had told her exactly what he thought she was good for.

She thought for a moment that he winced, but his face was smoothed quickly back into blankness.

He still did not budge. Tessa had not spoken to him for three weeks, save for when it was _absolutely necessary _and now she could not get rid of him. Why did he have to be so stubborn?

Tessa could feel tears burning at the back of her throat. The numbness was beginning to wear off, and she was not sure how much longer she would be able to remain composed. The last thing she wanted to do was start crying in front of Will. Anyone but Will.

Tessa ducked quickly under his arm, pushing the door open, twisting inside and slamming it in his beautiful face as he turned. She could feel herself unraveling as she pressed her back against the cool wood of the door.

_We're coming for you._

_You will die._

Nate's words flew around her head, stabbing her in the heart, making it hard to breathe. Tessa flung herself away from the door even though she had not heard Will leave. She just figured he would have. After all, it's not as if he liked her. It's not as if he cared.

Stuffing her fist in her mouth, Tessa pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the window, trying to freeze away her tears. The sound of her door creaking open made her spin around in surprise and indignation.

Sure enough, there stood Will, black hair falling in his eyes, concern etched into his features. The only light in the room was provided by the full moon, casting everything in silver shadows. It turned Will's skin a soft colour, turned is eyes dark and sparkling and even through her distress, Tessa could oly wonder at how incredibly beautiful he looked.

'What do you think you're doing?' She demanded furiously, cheeks flaming at his indecency. Will rolled his eyes and stepped further into the room, closing the door carefully beind him. Tessa's heart beat painfully in her chest, their conversation in the attic rising once again in her memory.

'You need to talk to somebody, Tessa,' he said quietly. 'And since Jem and Charlotte and Sophie and everybody else is asleep, you've got me.' Will dropped into her amchair. 'So talk,' he said.

'What do you want me to say, Will?' Tessa demanded, not moving from where she stood by the window. 'My brother wants me dead. Mortmain wants me dead. Lots of people want me dead. _After_ they've used me for my powers.'

Will was silent, watching her, a sad look on his face.

Something inside her broke then, at the way he was looking at her, and she slid to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at him anymore.

'My brother wants me dead. I never thought I would say that,' Tessa murmured. 'I always thought he would be there for me, be my big brother who was supposed to protect me, even if I was the one protecting him. And now he hates me. Calls me a monster. Sends me death threats.' She gave a humourless laugh, her eyes still closed. 'Who would have thought that a person I could love so much, who I thought loved me, could hate me so?'

Tessa shook her head, drew in her breath, tried to prevent herself from feeling. She heard a rustling of material, felt warm hands close around her own. Her eyes flew open, and her vision was suddenly full of Will, his blue eyes adn black hair, given a silver tint from the moonlight, making him seem almost unearthly.

Her breath caught in her throat at his closeness. He didn't look away from her.

'Tonight, when you ran after you brother, what were you going to do?' He asked her, his voice soft. She had rarely heard him speak so tenderly, so carfeully before and it made her heart swell in her chest.

'Tess?'

His nickname for her rolled out of his mouth, hung in the air between them and the last shreds of Tessa's composure collapsed inside her as tears pricked her eyes.

'I - I don't know,' she croaked, unable to look away from him. 'I was - I felt this burning _fury _and I couldn't think. I didn't know what I was going to do. In hindsight, I think that maybe I wasn't even running after Nate, I think that maybe I was just running.'

'What were you running from?' Will sounded confused and she let herself chuckle slightly at him. It wasnt a nice laugh, it was the kind that hurt her throat and made her stomach feel empty.

'What was I running from, Will? There is a long list of things that I want to run away from. Nate. Mortamin. Myself. _You_.'

She saw Will's sharp intake of breath when she said that, saw a momentary look of guilt flash across his face.

'Tess...' He began, his face was so close to hers she could feel his warm breath fan acros her cheeks as he spoke.

'I would like to go to sleep now, Will,' she said quietly and it took up all her remaining will-power not to sink against him. 'Thank you for talking to me about Nate, but I am very tired.'

Will leaned back, his face closing up and he nodded shortly. He stood up, moving quickly back towards the door, stepping out of the room. He paused for a moment and turned back to see her still watching him from her position beneath the window, her grey eyes full of emotion. Tessa watched him as he stood in her doorway, half turned away, an emotion she could not read shadowing his face.

She thought she had never seen anyone so beautiful.

'Goodnight, Tess,' he said softly, the words like a carress that reached across the room and wrapped around her, filling her ravaged heart with a spark of warmth.

'Goodnight, Will,' she whispered back and watched him as he left, closing the door with a faint click behind him.

Tesa didn't sleep. She sat beneath her window and watched as the moon's brightness faded, turning into the bright pinks and blues of dawn.

It was a new day.

_So, what'd you guys think? I know it's a kind of long, and the last line is a bit cheesy but what can a girl do? hahaha _

_Right, so I know that Mortmain and stuff still think that Tessa is dead but let's just pretend, ok? :P_

_Read and review! It makes me ever so happy._

_Blue._


	2. Chapter 2

_Ok, so you guys asked for a follow up, and after a butt load of umming and ahing, I came up with this:_

Her whispered words echoed in his ears as he closed her bedroom door, her beautiful face outlined with silver from the moonlight that had shone through the window, her grey eyes sparkling with emotions that he couldn't read.

Will stared at the wood of his own door for a long time, before furiously throwing himself away from it, pulling at his own hair, attempting to identify the aching in his heart.

He recalled the feeling of complete and utter rage he had experienced when Tessa's brother had threatened her. And then the look on Tessa's own face as she tore from the Institute, screaming her brother's name, and looking capable of murdering him with her bare hands, rose up in his mind.

She had looked almost etheral, running out like that in nothing but her nighty and dressing gown, bare feet slapping against the cold ground, eyes blazing with determination.

When he caught her, knowing that Nathaniel had disappeared, she had looked broken. He remembered the warmth of her slight body as he had pulled her close, trying to calm her, remembered dull coldness of her tone when she had asked him to release her.

While their scene in the attic played over and over in his head.

And her words, when she had admitted that she had been trying to run away.

Will clenched his eyes shut, trying to banish her voice from her head.

She had wanted to run away from herself. From him.

And it was all his fault.

Nathaniel's voice rose up once again in his mind. His smarmy, sneering tone had always grated on Will's ears in person, and it was no better in his memories.

_We're coming for you Tessie. And when you have given the Magister what he wants, you're going to die._

The same fury took him over again, and before he knew it, he had slammed his fist into the wall, wishing it was Nathaniel's face, imagining the satisfying crunch the other boy's nose would give out. He punched the wall once more, even harder this time, reveling as the shock of it traveled up his arm, the pain clearing his head.

No. They weren't getting his Tess.

He'd kill any that tried.

* * *

><p><em>Ok, so, Will's POV after he leaves Tessa that night. Waddya think? Hope you guys like it - I know it's incredibly short but that's how it turned out :) Review! Please?<em>

_Blue :)_


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